P3O Appendix F

If you’ve just read that line and you’re thinking what the heck, settle back in your chair, let me put a virtual arm around your shoulders and bring you in on one of the worse kept secrets about PMO and P3O.

PMO practitioners love Appendix F because it’s a massive table with a list of all the different functions and services you’ll find in a PMO. It covers the most common functions and services you’ll likely to find in Portfolio, Programme, Project Offices and Centres of Excellence.

What are the functions?

The best place to start with Appendix F is by understanding what they mean by a function.

A function is a functional area of project management (or portfolio, programme etc) – so that means planning; risk management; resource management; quality assurance and so on.

So for each function, there are services associated with it. For example, risk management as a function will have services like; maintaining the risk log or facilitating a risk management workshop.

Appendix F gives the different list of common functions to be found and the services associated with it.

PMO practitioners love Appendix F because it gives the breakdown of functions and services across the different types of PMOs.

To complete the Appendix it also suggests useful tools and techniques for each function.

It’s just a list, so what?

Yes it’s just a list but it’s a useful one in many different ways:

If you’re setting up a PMO it’s a good guide as to what functions and services you’ll likely offer

It’s useful to see what is needed within the different types of PMOs

It’s helpful as a practitioner to know what kinds of services you’ll be offering and therefore the skills needed to offer them.

If you’re working in one type of PMO, it’s useful to be able to see what is offered in other types and therefore some skills gaps to address if you want to move into a different type of PMO.

It’s not a blank page – it’s always helpful to see what others are doing and therefore how this common list has been pulled together based on the types of PMOs in operation today.

You’ll probably use it to help you pull together your service catalogue.

You can use it as something to audit your own PMO against – for example, do you provide the common services associated with resource management? If not, why not?

Use it as a benchmark as something to aspire to.

If you’re working in a PMO today, Appendix F should be your useful friend, a resource that you’ll pick up time and time again.